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summer (S ichneumoniformis), I was often puzzled by a fly which 
was exactly like the moth I was after, and on more than one occa- 
sion I caught the fly instead of the moth. Mr. Bates, in his 
‘‘Naturalist on the Amazon” says, that he several times shot by 
mistake a humming bird hawk moth instead of a bird. This moth 
Macroglossa Titan, we have a representative of the family in England 
called Macroglossa stellatarum, is somewhat smaller than the hum- 
ming bird; but its manner of flying and way of poising itself as it 
sips the honey from a flower, is precise!y the same as the action of 
the humming bird. Mr Bates says that the resemblance has 
attracted the attention of the natives, all of whom, even the whites, 
firmly believe thatone is transmutable into the other. Many 
tropical butterflies mimic others of allied species which are inedible. 
A remarkable instance of this is given by Mr. Poulton in his work 
already referred to. It is a swallow tail; but the females are 
without tails on the hind wings, and present a totally different 
appearance from the male. The female occurs in three different 
varieties, each of which mimics a different species of Danias (an 
inedible butterfly) prevalent in its district. It is noticeable that 
females are far more liable to assume this method of defence than 
the males. Asa rule they fly slower, and are more liable to attack 
when in the act of depositing their eggs. 
Among other orders of insects there are many examples of 
mimicry; but I will cite but one or two. To again quote Mr. 
Poulton: ‘‘ One of the most interesting cases I have yet met with was 
found by my friend, Mr. W. L. Sclater, in tropical Amevica. In 
this part of the world leaf cutting ants are only too well known, 
being most destructive of the introduced trees. They are seen in 
‘countless numbers passing along their well worn roads to the 
formicarium, and every homeward bound ant carries a piece of leaf, 
about the size of a sixpence, held vertically in its jaws, Mr. 
Sclater found an insect of an entirely different kind, and, I believe, 
belonging to a different order, which mimicked the ant, together 
with its leafy burden. The piece of leaf was imitated by a thin, 
‘flat expansion, and the resemblance was so striking that Mr. 
‘Sclater’s servant, who wasa keen observer, actually believed that 
he was looking at an ant carrying its piece of leaf.’ Several spiders 
imitate ants; and-among the grasshopper order many examples of 
protective resemblance will be found, notably those of ‘‘ leaf insects” 
' and ‘ walking-stick insects.” These latter hold their limbs irre- 
gularly, so that the resemblance to a dead branch with lateral 
twigs, is rendered all the more perfect. To conclude my examples, 
in Java there is a beetle which imitates closely a large black wasp. 
Contrary to the usual habit of beetles, it keeps its wings expanded 
an order to show the white patch on their apex. 
